72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada - waughfamily.ca

SEAFORTH HIGHLANDERS OF CANADAa narrow defilebridge and road from Domart to Hourges,about 200 yards long, commanded throughout by the highground immediately to the east and especially from Dodoand Moreuil Woods. These conditions rendered the assembling of troops prior to the attack very difficult. Some distance west, woods, villages and sunken roads gave a certainamount of cover in the preparatory stage."Oppositeour front," says Sir Arthur Currie,"theground consisted of a rolling plateau cut diagonally by thedeep valley of the River Luce. This river flows almost duewest through a strip of wooded marsh land some 300 yardswide, from which the sides of the valley rise steeply. Numerous ravines, generally running north and south, cutdeep into the plateau, the ground between these ravinesforming, as it were,tactical features more or less intersupporting.Woods and copses were scattered over the areaand many compact and well-built villages surrounded byThegardens and orchards formed conspicuous landmarks.remainder was open, unfenced farm land, partly coveredwith fields of standing grain. The hostile defences consisted chiefly of unconnected elements of trenches, and avast number of machine-gun posts."The artillery arrangements were surprisingly great, andthe performances of the guns wonderful. Between six andseven hundred guns were massed on the Canadian front,and the barrage laid down was the greatest of the war todate, far exceeding even that of Vimy Ridge. The barragewould have been wonderful if the ground had been knownand prepared and every feature carefully studied in advance. It was marvellous when it is realized that many ofthe batteries were only brought up a few hours before theengagement opened.The part taken by the 72nd in the operations thus summarized will be of special interest to readers of this chronicle. The account begins on the night of August 7-8, 1918,-when the Battalion swung clear of Boves Wood and start112